What's the deal with Juan Nicasio? I was reading an article on nbc about a bizarre waiver designation. I'd link it but it's on my phone. Thought sham or someone might be able to explain it.

He was placed on irrevocable as opposed to revocable waivers which means the Pirates can't pull him off of waivers if he is claimed. It is only unusual in that the perception is that Nicasio is a somewhat useful middle inning relief pitcher with a smallish salary that would be expected to garner some trade interest. Revocable waivers is mechanism for allowing a player to be dealt after the trade deadline. Irrevocable waivers is mechanism for allowing a player to be purged from the 40 man roster and assigned to the minor leagues (for players with no remaining options). So why would the Pirates go this route? If you are a cynic you believe the Pirates only care about unloading the $600 K still owed to Nicasio and they believe irrevocable waivers betters the odds of him being claimed. The team also collects $20K fee for a player claimed from irrevocable waivers. If the goal was just to get him off the roster they could have placed him on unconditional release waivers. From a pure bean counter standpoint irrevocable waivers probably has a slightly bigger net value among the three waiver options for Nicasio.

_________________Neal Huntington on what he's been told by his bosses about $$$: "We've got assurances we're going to be able to continue to do what we've done."

I got to give the Pirates some credit here. They aren't even trying to sugar coat or hide their miserliness anymore.

As they shouldn't. 2015 was their zenith. I don't know their numbers (I know you do) but they obviously are not willing to spend more to compete with Chicago or ST Louis. Joke of a team, bigger joke of a league.

I got to give the Pirates some credit here. They aren't even trying to sugar coat or hide their miserliness anymore.

As they shouldn't. 2015 was their zenith. I don't know their numbers (I know you do) but they obviously are not willing to spend more to compete with Chicago or ST Louis. Joke of a team, bigger joke of a league.

A business shouldn't outright disregard its customers to this degree. People only put up with so much. Is the $600K they are saving worth taking another PR hit? They make many roster moves over the course of year in which the financial impact to the bottom line is a motivating factor. The cynics amongst us believe that is the only factor ever considered in their decisions. But generally there are also some baseball performance factors involved in most decisions, and usually even the most blatant of salary dumps still have a whiff of some sort of reasoning that makes sense from a baseball/organization building standpoint. Yeah, it is mostly bull shit, but at least there is a little something for that bull shit to stick too. But they getting further and further from that with recent decisions. And this one is pretty indefensible. And given how little it actually saved it wasn't worth the heat they are taking. They are already seeing a pretty big attendance drop. It is going to be worse next year. If this was the last straw for 150 season ticket holders then this moved cost them some money.

_________________Neal Huntington on what he's been told by his bosses about $$$: "We've got assurances we're going to be able to continue to do what we've done."

FWIW, the Pirates are getting blasted both locally and nationally for this move, and Neal's "explanation" for the move is getting equal derision.

Maybe...just maybe...the corner is turning on just how cheap Nutting can get while still pretending to build a competitor.

I don't know if that matters, however...because he'll still own the team...and if he takes a PR hit for this...he might just ride the spiral downwards as long as he's making some semblance of a profit.

At any rate...it IS looking more and more like 2013-15 was the zenith of a Nutting-owned team.

_________________“Your ability to think concisely, your ability to make good judgments is much easier on Thursday night than during the heat of the game."

"That Super Bowl was not won yesterday. It was won in a small room in Philadelphia, two weeks ago."